Etymologically
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lien

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈli.eːn][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈliː.en][1]

Forms

liēn m (genitive liēnis); third declension[1] Also liēnis, -is, the usual nominative in Celsus.[2][3] The genitive plural is liēnum or liēnium in Pliny the Elder.[2] In Plautus the first syllables scan short, liĕn, -ĕnis, unless they are contracted.[2][4] The grammarians Servius and Priscian claim a long ē.[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *liχēn-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *splǵh-ēn (“spleen”).[4] The Indo-European word is distorted in all its descendants, probably through taboo;[1] Italic seems to have replaced the initial cluster of the root for that reason, but the source of the /i/ is unknown.[4]

Cognate with Sanskrit प्लीहन् (plīhán-), Avestan spərəzan-, Ancient Greek σπλήν (splḗn), Old Armenian փայծաղն (pʻaycałn), Old Irish selg and Lithuanian blužnìs, all meaning “spleen”.[4][1][5] Latin later borrowed the Greek word as splēn.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,[4][6] meaning the spleen: in the Mercator a character complains seditionem facit lien, “my spleen is starting a riot”, of a stitch in the side.[7]

Semantic evolution

It is the anatomical word for the spleen, often in the sense of a swollen or diseased one:[2][7] Cato writes lienes turgent, “the spleens swell”, and Celsus and Pliny the Elder give remedies to shrink it.[7][2]

The emperor Trajan is reported to have called the treasury lien, because when it swells the rest of the body wastes away.[7][3] Servius wrongly gives it as neuter.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for the spleen.[4][7][6]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of swollen spleens.[7][6]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus uses the nominative lienis.[2][3][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder gives remedies for the spleen.[2][6]
  • c. 400 AD – Servius gives it as neuter.[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The spleen.[2][7]
  2. A swollen or diseased spleen.[2]
  3. (figurative) The imperial treasury, in a saying attributed to Trajan.[7][3]

Word family

  • liēnōsus
  • splēn

Usage notes

The English combining form lieno-, “spleen”, comes from it;[8] English lien, “legal claim”, is unrelated and comes through French from ligāmen.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d e f g de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com